Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XXIV. Revolution
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
i9i7] PRINCE KROPOTKIN 481
detestable elements amongst their clients and zealots.
And above and before all things they wanted to welcome
the Zimmerwaldians, the friends of the German
Sozial-demokratie. And when the British barred the way to
the Lenins, the Trotskys and their staff, the Provisional
Government was constrained to tolerate their arrival by
Germany, to receive them ceremoniously and to allow
their open and vehement progaganda of peace at any
price.
I saw all this crowd of exiles passing through
Stockholm, I made the acquaintance of a few amongst
them, I heard a great deal of talk about others.
One of the first who passed through and stayed for
one day in the Swedish capital was the celebrated
Prince Kropotkin, a Revolutionist of the old stamp, the
spiritual heir of Bakunin, the head of the Anarchist
school, the pillar of the former International, and with
all that an eminent geographer and collaborator with
Elisee Reclus.
I expected to find a peremptory, intransigent
personage, airing the most extreme theories with great
assurance. I saw before me a very polite old man,
with the courtesy of a bygone age, exceedingly simple
in manner but with the dignity of a gentleman of the old
school, and the impetuosity of youth becoming apparent
occasionally—and just at the right moment—through
this modest exterior. A sympathetic current at once set
in between us and we talked quite openly. At one
moment, when the conversation had turned to the
person of Nicolas II., I took up his defence as a man
and did not think it necessary to conceal the sincere
sympathy I still felt for him. Kropotkin’s face darkened.
" I do not agree with you in the least," he said. " From
us he has only earned anger and contempt." " But foryou
it is quite another matter," I broke in; "’ Thou hast not
served him. From thine earliest youth thou hast thrown
off his bloodstained fetters.’1 And I have served him all
1 Celebrated lines of Lermonteffs on the death of the Decembrist
Prince Odoievsky. The poet speaks of the "great world" and of its
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
